Doctor stranded after President Trump's travel ban returns to Chicago

CHICAGO -- A Chicago area doctor from Syria who was stranded overseas when President Donald Trump signed a travel ban returned to the U.S. on Thursday.

Dr. Amer Al Hommsi said he was never angry and he always hoped he would get back to Chicago, especially after seeing all the support he received.

"I am very excited to go back to my residency to complete it, to come back to go back to my patients. I would like to thank my family, friends, colleagues, university and residency program. They were all very helpful and supportive and without them I wouldn't be here," Al Hommsi said.

Al Homssi landed at O'Hare International Airport at about 9 a.m. local time on Thursday. He was greeted by his legal team and by some of his colleagues from Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn. Al Homssi is an internal medicine resident there.

The 24-year-old Syrian native traveled to Abu Dhabi to get married and was kept off a plane back to Chicago after President Donald Trump signed his controversial executive order.

He was one of the first travelers to sue the Trump administration and win. On Wednesday, the court, which was packed with his medical colleagues, agreed to let him return.

Al Homssi has a passport from the United Arab Emirates. He also has an American J1 student visa.

"I felt proud to be a lawyer because government lawyers joined with us to do the right thing in a situation that clearly was a humanitarian issue and it's the right result," said Al Homssi's attorney Thomas Durkin.

Al Homssi headed to Christ Hospital from the airport. The director of his three year residency program told reporters that they will debrief him on his patients. After that, he will go home and get some rest, but the doctor said he is very eager to get back to work.

There is another Chicago case pending against the Trump administration. A Chicago man in his 50s, a permanent legal resident who lives with his wife and children, left the country to care for his sick mother in Iran and was refused a plane ticket back to the U.S.

Lawyers for the man would only identify him as John Doe, but his attorneys said he will be allowed to come back as well.